In recent years, medieval heresy has become a contested topic among historians. Traditionally, most of the heretical groups recorded in western Europe between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries were seen as offshoots of an organised Cathar Church, centred on the south of France. Catharism was characterised as a dualist religion, originating in the Balkans, with clearly defined doctrines, sacraments and even its own episcopate. Although this view still has some prominent defenders, the work of historians such as Mark Pegg and Robert Moore has painted a very different picture. These scholars find no clear evidence of dualism in the teachings of the Occitan dissidents known as the bons hommes and deny that a Cathar ‘counter-church’ existed in the south of France prior to the Albigensian crusade (1209–29).

This conference volume attempts to take stock of the current state of research in the field, following two decades of passionate and, at times, ill-tempered debate between ‘traditionalist’ and ‘revisionist’ scholars. Jean-Louis Biget sets the scene by highlighting some of the key questions that need to be addressed. Three stand out as particularly important. First, how trustworthy are the descriptions of ‘Catharism’ provided by orthodox writers, from whose works much of our information about the heretics’ teachings is derived? Secondly, to what extent was heresy a reaction to changes within the western Church itself – specifically, the Gregorian reforms, which concentrated power in the hands of a clerical elite – rather than ‘un phénomène étranger et autonome’ (p. 19)? Finally, how were accusations of heresy weaponised politically in the south of France, both by local powerholders and by outsiders with designs on the region?

Although a variety of perspectives are represented in the volume, most contributors fall into the revisionist camp. In his paper, Mark Pegg argues forcefully that Catharism ‘n'a pas eu d'existence en dehors de sa propre historiographie’ (p. 335). Before 1209 there were no Cathars ‘in flesh and bone’, as the original bons hommes and bonnes dames were neither consciously opposed to Catholicism nor perceived by their neighbours as heretics. Only after the crusade did the leaders of Occitan dissent, radicalised by persecution, come to view themselves as ‘bishops’ in a dualist counter-Church, embracing the ‘fiction bureaucratique’ (p. 354) of Catharism as a religion imported to Latin Christendom from the East.

The role of anti-heretical polemic in ‘constructing’ the Cathar heresy is explored in detail by Alessia Trivellone. In her paper on the dissident Churches of northern Italy, Trivellone warns us against taking what Catholic writers have to say about these communities at face value. Although their works are full of detail, creating an illusion of reality, on closer inspection it becomes clear that ‘leur récit présente souvent un caractère fabuleux et caricatural’ (p. 47). Emmanuel Bain takes a similar line in respect of one of the best-known anti-heretical treatises, Alan of Lille's De fide catholica. In Bain's view, this work was not targeted primarily against the dissidents of the late twelfth-century Midi and does not provide an accurate account of their teachings. Rather, it was conceived of as a theological summa, a refutation of heresy in all its forms across time, in imitation of the Church Fathers.

In the first of two contributions, Jean-Louis Biget questions the authenticity of one of the main pieces of evidence for a link between the bons hommes and eastern dualism, the so-called charter of Saint-Félix. Biget revives the argument that this document, said to record the proceedings of a heretical synod convened in 1167 by the Bogomil ‘pope’ Niquinta (Nicetas), is in fact a seventeenth-century forgery by the Toulousain intellectuals Pierre de Caseneuve and Guillaume Besse. In his second paper, Biget seeks to reconstruct key elements of the beliefs and lifestyle of the early bons hommes and bonnes dames using testimonies from later Inquisition registers. These show that the dissidents were well-integrated into Occitan communities and enjoyed the confidence of local elites, with their homes serving both as centres of industry and as sanctuaries for marginalised groups such as widows and unmarried girls. Although the content of their preaching is hard to pin down, it was probably ‘plus morale que dogmatique’ (p. 251). Moreover, they seem to have co-existed harmoniously with the official Church in the region.

Robert Moore focuses on the role of political factors – specifically, Henry ii of England's territorial ambitions in the south of France – in causing the lands between the Garonne and the Rhône to be identified as a centre of heresy. Significantly, Moore notes that almost all of our information about the spread of heresy in Occitania between 1119 and 1179 comes from English sources. As Hélène Débax's contribution shows, two of the three papal legates active in southern France before the crusade, Pierre de Castelnau and Arnaud Amalric, also had political reasons to magnify the threat posed by heresy in the region, as they were linked to noble families hostile to the house of Toulouse.

The revisionist position is challenged somewhat by Edina Bozoky, whose paper on the Interrogatio Iohannis, the ‘secret book’ of the heretics of Concorezzo, argues for the circulation of dualist ideas in northern Italy from an early date. Bozoky considers this text ‘la preuve du lien des cathares d'Italie avec le bogomilisme byzantino-bulgare’ (p. 73), as the myths that it contains closely resemble the Bogomil teachings described in Byzantine sources. Jacques Paul's contribution suggests that some of these ideas were also assimilated by dissidents in southern France. Paul discusses the fascinating case of Pierre Garcias of Bourguet Nau, a heretic denounced to the Inquisition in December 1247, who not only subscribed to a dualist theology but defended his position using exegetical arguments previously attributed to the Cathars by anti-heretical writers such as Alan of Lille and Moneta of Cremona. The fact that Garcias was a simple believer, rather than a ‘perfect’, implies that such beliefs were well-established among Occitan dissidents by this time – indeed, that Garcias was heir to a tradition predating the crusade.

From Bozoky's and Paul's contributions, it is clear that scholars remain divided on the question of dualism in particular. None the less, there are signs of an emerging consensus in some areas. Whereas in the past ‘Catharism’ tended to be seen as a monolithic phenomenon, most historians now emphasise the pluriform and localised character of medieval heresy. One promising development signalled in the volume is the digital edition of Bibliothèque municipal, Toulouse, ms 609, that is currently being prepared by Jean-Paul Rehr. As Rehr explains, his new edition will allow scholars to interrogate this important source much more systematically, making it possible to view the ‘Great Inquisition’ of 1245–6 within the wider context of Occitan village society.